DARDANELLE -The Sand Lizards defeated the Danville Little Johns in the season opener 21-13 at Bob Keenan Field in Dardanelle.

It marked the third year out of the four-year existence of the Judges Cup - named because Dardanelle and Danville are the two county seats in Yell County - that the Lizards have won the cup.

Dardanelle (1-0) started the game with an early fumble at the 11:35 mark. Danville (0-1) punted after its first possession, but Little John Leroy Ruiz intercepted a Dardanelle pass and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown, to put Danville on top 7-0 with 8:52 left in the first quarter.

Dardanelle didn't hesitate to respond, however, when Kendall Pinkney took an option keeper around the outside for a 12-yard touchdown with 6:31 to go in the first quarter. Drew Davis would add the extra point to tie the game for the Lizards. With :42 left in the first quarter, Pinkney would intercept a Danville pass in the endzone, and would bring it out to the 40.

Dardanelle marched slowly down the field until Mark Haney punched in a score for the Lizards from a yard out after being set up by Logan Taylor. The point-after kick was no good, and Dardanelle now held a 13-7 lead over the Little Johns with 9:37 left in the half. Ryan Garrison recovered a Little John fumble with 2:06 left in the half. Pinkney later hit Lucas Loving for a 37-yard touchdown pass, making the score 19-7. Pinkney would then pass to Will McCormick for the 2-point conversion to give the Lizards a 21-7 lead going into the locker room at halftime.

"We played an ugly game," Dardanelle head coach Josh Price said after the game. "We tackled horribly all night long, and we were able to hold them at the end. But we have some serious work to do next week to prepare for Lavaca."

Danville started off the second half moving the ball down the field, but Dardanelle's defense held on fourth down to give the Sand Lizards the ball on offense. On the first play from scrimmage, Pinkney scampered around the outside for a 47-yard run, only to be stopped by the Little Johns on fourth down. Danville drained the clock for the rest of the quarter and early in the fourth, Trent Davis punched in a touchdown from 2 yards out with 11:55 left in the game. The point after was no good, and Dardanelle was clinging to a 21-13 lead.

Danville would get the ball back after again stopping the Lizards on fourth down with 6:23 to go. Danville ran the clock down to 1:40, when Kyle Carter and Zach Treadway pinned Danville quarterback Ruiz in the backfield and sacked him for a 10-yard loss. Danville faced fourth and 11, but Zach Lynch ended the Little Johns' hopes by knocking down their final pass with 1:08 left.

"We were lucky tonight that Danville made some big mistakes early." Price said. "The way we were tackling, we could have lost by three touchdowns. But it's like I said earlier in the week, the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win, and we made fewer mistakes. I guess we will take an ugly win over a pretty loss, but we can't play like this all year. We stepped it up toward the end of the game on defense, and if we play like that, then we will be ok."

Pinkney was 5-of-9 on the night throwing, with 64 yards and one touchdown. Loving was 5-of-6 for 61 yards and an interception. Pinkney rushed the ball seven times for 73 yards and a touchdown. Haney had 58 yards rushing with a touchdown on the night. Dardanelle racked up 301 yards total offense, 131 through the air and 169 on the ground. Danville had 270 total yards, but only 40 in the second half.

Dardanelle continues play next at 7:30 Friday against the Lavaca Golden Arrows.